High cholesterol levels affect 23% of Delhi teens: Study

New Delhi: Adults are not the only people affected by high cholesterol. Contrary to popular perception, children and teenagers too fall prey to the dangers of high cholesterol levels owing to modern lifestyle.

According to a leading English daily, recently, a study was conducted by Dr. Raman Puri, founder and vice-chairman of Lipid Association of India and Interventional Cardiologist at Apollo Hospital. The study was conducted among 2,508 children, aged between 14 to 18 years, in the National Capital Region (NCR) has found that 23 per cent of them had cholesterol levels higher than normal.

Dr. Puri said: “High prevalence of atherogenic lipid profile (the one that causes heart attacks and stroke), notably low HDL levels (good cholesterol), and high BMI has been seen in Indian adolescent population.”

According to him, health policies for early and universal screening of lipid profile, as well as other indicators of metabolic syndrome in this population, are needed to curb the growing incidence of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). The average incident age of CAD in India is 52 years, as compared to early 70’s for Americans.

Dr. Puri also explained that “of the children surveyed in the study, 2.3 per cent were overweight, and 3.8 per cent were obese.”

Regarding improper cholesterol levels in the children, Dr. Puri said that 10 per cent of them had high LDL and 18 per cent had high triglyceride. Fourty-eight per cent of the surveyed population had low levels of good cholesterol or HDL.

The doctor added that high blood cholesterol was a major risk factor for coronary artery disease, which could lead to life-threatening episodes like heart attacks and strokes.